There is a guy that has several excellent videos on setting up and shooting trad affectively. I used to watch one of them at least several times a year. I’ll see if I can find it tonight
I’ve got two trad bows left but can’t shoot them anymore because of tendon injuries. I enjoyed shooting recurves, but was never really good at it. Since I only bow hunt and I like cutting a few tags every year, I’ve hunted with a compound 20+ years.
Is it a modern recurve with true centre shot cut out. Are you using a rest or off the self. You’ll probably want to end up with about 500 to 550 total finished arrow weight for hunting deer and bears. There’s all kinds of combinations that will get you there. I shot 400 spine Easton Axis with a 150 grain broadhead. 48# at 29” draw length.
Spine is critical to trad shooting. Thankfully you can weaken or stiffen the spine by cutting the shafts and or changing piont weight and weighted insets.
First and foremost you need consistent form , anchor and release. Without that it’s tough to gauge spine by arrow flight.
Two things that can really shorten your learning curve. “Blind Bale” shooting every day through the winter. And horror of horrors, use a simple single pin sight to start with.
Compound and trad bows are two completely different animals.
^^ All good info here. Typically with modern trad bows you can run with a slightly stiffer arrow. The overall weight Ambush mentioned should be your target. Arrow balance (length of the arrow, size of the broadhead), size of fletching do make a difference. A heavier arrow retains more kinetic energy, but also requires more practice as the arc of the arrow flight increases with arrow weight. I suspect your recurve is probably pushing 190fps, off the shelf.
Important to keep yardages short. But don't be dismayed. It's a great challenge. I've taken substantially more game with my various traditional recurves and longbows than I ever did with my rifle. Short range changes how we hunt. Less competitive, more up close and personal.
^^ Short range changes how we hunt. Less competitive, more up close and personal.
It’s like the difference between watching a game on TV and playing in the game yourself.
J-T has a wealth of on the ground hunting experience. Lots of guys have years of range experience, but there’s a huge difference between “wounding” paper or foam and a live animal.
^^ All good info here. Typically with modern trad bows you can run with a slightly stiffer arrow. The overall weight Ambush mentioned should be your target. Arrow balance (length of the arrow, size of the broadhead), size of fletching do make a difference. A heavier arrow retains more kinetic energy, but also requires more practice as the arc of the arrow flight increases with arrow weight. I suspect your recurve is probably pushing 190fps, off the shelf.
Important to keep yardages short. But don't be dismayed. It's a great challenge. I've taken substantially more game with my various traditional recurves and longbows than I ever did with my rifle. Short range changes how we hunt. Less competitive, more up close and personal.
Thanks JT for explaining to my ADHD brain lol haha going to train blind bail shooting also
I took up the trad game a few years ago, intent both hunting & target. I find it very therapeutic vs going to the range with a 30-calibre bang stick. 1st purchase was a 40# limb vintage recurve with a simple pin sight. I pull less than the marked poundage on it due to my shorter than standard draw length. Funny 'cause I'm not a shorty, 6' which isn't super tall, but you'd think pretty standard...
Anyhow, the somewhat lower draw weight was great to get me started. Since then I've found the sport to be a deep rabbit hole with things like instinctive shooting & of course arrow spine, tip weight, length.... all the tuning variables. I next purchased a takedown recurve & upped the limbs to 50#. With those limbs at my draw length I'm legal for most hunting situations. Takedown has the advantage of allowing one to change up limb weight for versatility. I was in the process of DIY a sight for the takedown when I broke the one on the vintage bow & decided to give instinctive with both eyes open a try. Haven't looked back since then & am getting fairly consistent groups.
Got into building my own arrows, ordering shafts, fletching & fletching jig. Using 2 spine weights with the 50# takedown 400 (stiffer) & 500. I haven't seen a difference in performance shooting either spine at short range in my yard (12-15 yds). I shorten the shafts to better match my draw length, effectively making them stiffer vs leaving them full length. I use a feather rest on the shelf.
Close up of the shelf on the vintage bow. It's a pleasure to shoot. The pin sight is now gone.
For some reason the site won't let me embed photos any longer, so link to my cloud storage is best I can do. 20171018_122121.jpg
My backyard targets & the takedown recurve on the right. All 500 spine if not mistaken. IMG_20181020_171958.jpg
Going by my personal experience with 50# limbs, you should be ok with 400 spine. I've set my hunting configuration with broadheads up with 500. Only way to tell for sure is shoot a bunch.
^^^ Yes, it can be a bit addictive, and it is certainly relaxing. I convince many people, to shoot a trad bow after work instead of having a beer. Same effect. It's hard to shoot well if one is under any influence, but it is relaxing.
I usually pick up (purchase/trade) a bow when I like the wood, the workmanship, riser and the general appearance. Not all trad bows shoot the same. I try to work/practice/tune a new bow to be as accurate as possible. And my OCD forces me to stick with that bow, until I harvest. Sometimes I am so happy to put down a pretty bow (that doesn't shoot well) after I've taken an animal with it. I have about 8 maybe 9 hunting bows, self bows, longbows, recurves, that I've taken animals with and I have a number (somewhere around 8 - 10) other traditional bows that I loan to others who want to give shooting a try. Do not ask me how many arrows I have. Each bow has a matched set of arrows, and I have probably 4, 5 gallon pales of arrows to use as spares.
I had a great mentor to learn from and I'm so appreciative of his time. I still have my first set of arrows I made in 1992. Well some of those arrows.
Over the past long while I've been using G5 Montecs on the front end of the arrow. I have a couple of broadheads that I have taken multiple animals with.
FYI, took me 4 or 5 years to take my first kill with the 65lb recurve. A great tasting mule deer buck. After that, the harvests have been consistent/regular.
Thank you folks my questions by all means I wasn't expecting to run out and hunt with it tomorrow. I simply don't want to buy something that wouldn't work for me later hunting or use the wrong thing and hurt myself or the bow . Vortex
Putting Holes in Animals
Originally Posted by Ambush
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote